JOE EFFIONG, UYO
The former attorney general and commissioner for justice in Akwa Ibom State, Mr Uwemedimo Nwoko (SAN) has described the claim by a member representing Uyo federal constituency, Mr Mike Enyong, as the Peoples Democratic Party’s governorship candidate for Akwa Ibom as a mere daydream.
Enyong who had boycotted the PDP governorship primary held at Godswill Akpabio International Stadium on May 25, 2022, in which Pastor Umo Eno won, had gone ahead to organise a private primary election at his residence in Ewet Housing Estate, Uyo, to declare himself a winner even as he allocated phantom votes to other aspirants who never appeared at the comic contest.
The state was however surprised last month when the news filtered in that a federal high court sitting in Abuja had ruled in Enyong’s favour and declared him the PDP gubernatorial candidate for Akwa Ibom State.
But speaking with journalists in Uyo on Sunday evening, Mr Nwoko advised Akwa Ibom people to ignore Mike Enyong’s pseudo-legal victory, stressing that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) still recognizes Pastor Umo as the authentic candidate duly nominated by the party.
Nwoko, who is the heard pf Pastor Umo Eno legal team, said normally. Enyong, popularly called Babantan by his fans in the state, should be declared wanted by the police for allegedly forging the signatures of some PDP national executive members in the case he filed at the federal high court.
Urging members of the public to ignore what he observed as series of misinformation peddled on the social media space by purveyors of fake news, Nwoko said that based on three grounds of fraud, lack of due service to parties listed, and lack of jurisdiction, the purported judgement obtained by Mike Enyong was not tenable anywhere.
He explained that there is a pending motion before a Federal High Court in Abuja by Pastor Eno and at the Appeal Court by PDP, for stay of execution on the controversial court judgement obtained by the said Enyong, hence the decision of the federal high court cannot be effected until the pending motions are dispensed.
“I personally filed a case to the police, but he refused to show up. Mike Enyong should submit himself to the nearest police station. He should respond to questions bordering on fraudulent actions.
“He has not gotten the courage to present his fraudulently obtained judgement to INEC up till now. Even if he approaches INEC, it will not be executed. PDP through its representative, Paul Usoro, (SAN) had filed a stay of execution. There is a stay of execution motion at the Court of Appeal. Mike Enyong is not and cannot be candidate of the PDP in Akwa Ibom State, because the purported judgement he has is not valid. The judgement he is holding was obtained by fraud”.
“As at yesterday, I took time to access INEC website and I visited their office in Abuja. This documents which I printed out in colored form, was downloaded from INEC website yesterday.
“At any point in time you can verify and confirm that Pastor Umo Eno is the PDP candidate in Akwa Ibom State.
“Mike Enyong claims that he obtained judgement from the Federal High Court Abuja and that the judgement now makes him a candidate of the PDP. Let me state here that the judgement which was obtained by fraud and which he has carefully refused to bring to the public, does not in anyway tamper with the candidacy of Umo Bassey Eno”.
The lawyer had stated that up until now, Michael Enyong, who he said has been hiding, is yet to present the judgement he obtained from the court to the Independent National Electoral Commission.
“I was at INEC headquarters on Friday, they have not received any letter from him. He has not written to INEC or even attempted to present that judgement or ask INEC to substitute his name with Umo Eno’s”.
The former Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice wondered why a public officer of Enyong’s standing would condescend to the extent of forging signatures of the National Chairman of the PDP, National Organizing Secretary of the PDP and other officials, and even going as far as forging the official letter headed paper of the PDP and presenting same before the court, where he obtained a fraudulent judgment.
He emphasized that such criminal act which runs foul of the law cannot be swept under the carpet, as the plaintiff adopted mischievous practices to obtain the fraudulent judgement.
In detailing the illegalities and irregularities trailing the filling of the suit by Mr Enyong, Nwoko termed the case a nullity abinitio, emphasising that the Nigerian constitution in Section 285 (9) provides a time frame of 14 days for the filing of any suit pertaining to pre-election matters of which the plaintiff clearly defaulted.
“It is on record that the PDP gubernatorial primaries took place on the 25th of May 2022 and Mr Enyong filed the case on 1st August of the same year, 69 days after the event took place.”
“The purported suit, FHC ABJ CS 12952022, which the plaintiff maliciously refused to join Pst Umo Eno is littered with forged documents, including forged result sheets carrying the forged signatures of National Chairman of PDP, the National Secretary, the National organising secretary and the returning officer.
“Take note that this will not be the first time Mr Enyong filled a case on this matter. Precisely On 7th June 2022, the Plaintiff had filed a suit (FHC ABJ CS 8202022) in a Federal High Court in Abuja joining Pst Umo Eno as a second defendant.”
According to Mr Nwoko, Mr Enyong mischievously withdrew that suit when he knew that it would have been a failed endeavour.
Poking more holes on the judgment, Nwoko stated that Mr Enyong did not serve the PDP that he joined in the suit while filing it, and according to order 14 and rule 10 of the Federal High Court, lack of Service, lack of Jurisdiction and fraud are the core basis cases like his are always set aside.
The Nigeria Police were alerted on these alleged multiple forgeries and fraud and according to him, Mr Enyong is being wanted for investigations by the Police.